The Scoop on Poop....in Cloth Diapers!

Okay, I have had a lot of people ask me about cloth diapers out of pure curiosity or because they are thinking about trying it out themselves. Read on to see what our experiences have been. (Disclaimer! Please pardon any typos, misspellings, etc. I am writing this quickly during nap time!!!)

Our youngest wearing a cloth diaper.

First of all, we did not use them with Jack. We used disposable diapers and then pull-ups until he was able to successfully go potty and use underwear. I never even contemplated using cloth with him because of his enrollment in daycare and for the upfront cost of cloth diapers.

 I am not going to try to convince you to use cloth diapers, but just provide the information. You have to decide what is best for you and your baby!!!

Also, this is important!!! You do not have to do all of one way or the other. You could do cloth diapers part time. We made the decision to use 1 disposable diaper and a diaper cover for night time. We were not having success with different overnight options. Henry would wake up in the middle of the night because he had soaked through his diaper. (Before you ask, yes, we tried extra inserts, wool, hemp, etc!!!!) We needed sleep, so we bought the overnight heavy wetters, Pampers. (Yeah, they are expensive, but getting good sleep is priceless!!!!)

First, here are what Doug and I see as the pros and cons.

PROS

-Less diaper rash than we saw with Jack (although, different babies have different tolerances to pH levels, etc.)
-You can't run out!
-Over a period of time, they are far less expensive than disposable diapers
-Way better for the environment than disposable diapers
-Ease of use (I'll explain in detail later, but takes less time than initially thought to wash, dry, stuff, etc.)
-I can't ask Henry, but they look and feel much more comfortable than disposables
-Cute designs and colors

See, look at the cutey tush! 

CONS

-More laundry to do! (Can't lie, that part does kinda suck, but not that bad!)
-Relatives seem to have a harder time to figure out how to use them (They do have a lot of snaps!)
-They do require care as opposed to just tossing the dirty diaper.
-Can be bulky in the diaper bag.
-Would be difficult to manage out-of-town and some may not want you to wash in their washing machine (we use disposables for that purpose)
-Very expensive to buy all the diapers you need upfront


So those are the pros and cons from what we can tell, but we still find the savings in cost $$$$, ease of use, and the comfort for the baby to be what really convinces us that we made the right decision. Also, you do get that "do-gooder" feeling for helping the planet too!!

I never really kept track of what we did spend to get started, but we did borrow size small diapers from a friend. (There is a huge market for buying diapers used, btw!) I did buy new inserts to use with the used diapers. There was nothing wrong with the other inserts, but I just felt better with using fresh new ones. When I was done with those, we bought more.

Check out Kelly's Closet for a lot of different products and prices. Keep an eye on their sales and promotions. They often give away a free one size diaper with a minimum purchase or have free shipping. (I have checked other websites, but like that one best.)

By the way, when the baby is first born you may want to first use disposables because the one-size diapers won't fit your tint tot yet. (Unless you have a ten pounder! Yes, you know who you are! LOL, God bless you!)They also need changing every hour or two, so you would be up to your eyeballs in laundry!! I started using cloth diapers around 4-5 weeks. I was nursing around the clock and in the trenches of new motherhood with a toddler, so I didn't even want to think about extra laundry and a learning curve.

Here is what I would recommend you would need should you decide to use cloth diapers.

1)  I recommend 18-22 diapers if you plan on doing it full time from the get-go. (This means you could do laundry every other day or day and a half. You don't want to have to do it everyday!)

These are just some of them. I put them in baskets underneath his changing table.  

2)  2 large wet bags that can fit into a diaper pail. (1 to use and one to use when the other one is in the wash.)

This is one of my wet bags. They do come in different colors, patterns, designs, etc. See how it fits into a regular diaper pail. The wet bag has an elastic top so it doesn't fall into the diaper pail. Those are used diapers laying in there.

3) 2 or 3 to-go wet bags for when you are out and about.

4) 1 or two diaper covers for night time purposes (you could also do the old-timey pre-fold diapers inside of those. I do NOT do that. Looks too hard!!)

5) Free and Clear detergent (some websites and other sources will tell you that you need other special stuff, we just use this and it works fine!!)

From Costco

6) baking soda to freshen up loads

Yep, that is an old Similac canister. I always try to reduce waste and reuse when I can. 

7) white distilled vinegar if the diapers smell like ammonia

Regular old vinegar is just fine. It also acts like a natural softener too. Which is good because you can't add softener to cloth diapers.

8) dryer sheets (Just kidding!!! They look like them though! They are disposable liners to catch poop. They are flushable and flushable wipes from Costco.) (BTW, they don't really work on catching poop effectively until your baby starts to eat some solids. You can probably figure out why. You just use a wipe to scrape off the big mess into the potty and flush. The washer will get the rest of it.)

9) I was using a wipe warmer with wash clothes in it for reusable wipes, but it just wasn't working out as planned. Everything I read had said one cloth will do the job. Not for me. I still used like 3-5 wash clothes for the big messes and I just didn't have that many wash clothes I wanted to use for that purpose. So, I just use the flushable wipes. 

You could use a wipe warmer to make your own reusable wipes. All of the inserts on the right are for extra stuffing.

I do not use the hose and sprayer, because honestly, that looks like a hot mess to use!! I don't want this to be more difficult that using disposable. I never even bought one. And honest to goodness, once you get a system down, it is not more difficult. 

Here is how you do it. I am a visual learner so I took pictures. I had to skip some steps for baby Henry's privacy. You can fill in the blanks!

1) Put your happy baby on the changing table or flat surface and undo the diaper. This one you see, has snaps. It takes a learning curve to figure it out, but once you do it is super easy and fast. 

They do have some like this, that have velcro. I like them a lot as they are so easy, but older babies tend to take them off I hear. 

2. Take off the whole thing and it is wet, even better. Just toss the whole thing in the diaper pail. Some people so separate the inserts from the diaper at this time. I used to, but found with a squirmy baby on the table, it is best for me to do it at laundry time.

If it was a dirty diaper, hopefully you remembered to put in a liner!!! If you did, pull off the liner and use flushable wipes to clean off the mess on your baby and pull the flushable liner and wipes into the toilet or nursery lined trash can. (toilet is better to get rid of the stink though!)

3. Get out a new diaper and put it on your baby. (I pre-stuff mine while watching TV at night so I am not fumbling around with that while the baby in on the changing table. If you have a boy, you could get sprayed! Just a word of caution.)

How to Stuff

1) This is the diaper without any cloth inserts in it.

2) Put an insert into the pocket. Notice how pretty and white it is. If you promptly, wash and use the liners, your diapers will stay pretty. I am sure the longer you use them, the more they will look used. You can always replace liners if this bothers you.

3) Add another insert or two on top of the diaper. Remember there is one on the inside too. I usually just have one insert inside and one outside. This may change as he gets older.

4) Fold it like a regular diaper.

5) I know it is sideways, but you can still see that now you just snap it up! Done!

To Wash:
Separate all the layers of the diaper so they can get thoroughly clean. Wash them on hot. I usually wash them on the normal cycle. If they were a particularly dirty load, I will wash twice or do an extra rinse. Then you put them in the dryer. Do NOT wash on high heat. It will mess up your diapers. They will not be water repellent and that is obviously important. If you do notice that your diapers are not absorbing as much water they need to be stripped. That simply means that you should use a little of dawn and bleach on the inserts only. You don't want to ruin your cute patterned and colored diapers!!! That solves the problem. If they are a little stinky, just add vinegar when you wash them. Works like a charm. I always through in a scoop of baking soda for good meaure when I wash the diapers. (Not with vinegar or you will get a volcanic eruption.)

I hope this satisfies curiosities and helps any of you who may be thinking about trying it. It works really well for my family and could work for you too!